Glimpses, a Twilight Twenty-Five round 8 collection
by TisTaiOre
Summary: My first foray into the sharing of my muses. A collection of flash fiction written for the 8th round of the Twilight Twenty-Five drabble challenge. Wolf centered. Pairings and rating will vary.
1. Chapter 1

The Twilight Twenty-Five  
thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: #19  
Pen Name: TisTaiOre  
Pairing/Character(s): Paul  
Rating: T  
Word Count: 436

Photo prompts can be found here:  
thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

Night had fallen when Paul finally pulled his truck to a stop. There had been no time for flowers or to change into the usual somber clothes that a funeral seemed to require.

The offhand comment earlier had taken him by surprise. He doubted that the elderly woman, a great aunt twice removed, had meant to cause such distress. There had been a call made a few days prior that his mom had passed away. Her funeral was being held that day and she asked if he remembered which cemetery it was in, to send flowers.

The news had hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. He didn't remember much of the woman who had been his mother. Over the years she had become just a faded memory. So much of that time of his childhood was a blur. He remembered little beyond the fights and being scared as he hid in his closet with his action figures. It seemed like something that had happened to someone else.

It had taken hours to locate any family member to find out the location of the funeral. Hours in which he had started to unravel. Leah had overheard him as he raged at some useless person on the phone. She had gotten him to calm down enough to explain. The sympathy in her eyes had nearly been his undoing. She never flinched as he screamed at her. The guilt and the pain mixed together to a numbing pointless pressure that made it hard to breathe. When he quieted Leah made him go run some of it off. She made the calls and had an address when he returned.

There was no way to make the funeral in time. Actually attending didn't really matter. It didn't have to make sense, but he still had to go. He had to be there the day she was buried. His family may have all but disappeared but there was still the lingering feeling of obligation. This was his mother. _His mother_. He had to see, to know for sure.

There had been offers from the pack to go with him. He knew they meant well but he couldn't stand the thought of having to try to make conversation with anyone. He was better off alone.

Eight hours and five hundred miles later he sat in the dark cemetery trying to find the courage to say goodbye to the woman who had abandoned him so many years ago. Inside the angry wolf the small boy in the closet still loved his mom.

His hands shook as he opened the car door.


	2. Rained Out - Prompt 20

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt: #20  
Pen Name: TisTaiOre  
Pairing/Character(s): Embry & Tiffany Call  
Rating: T  
Word Count: 446

Photo prompts can be found here:  
/round-eight/prompts

Tiffany raised her head at the sound of the front door opening.

"Hey honey, how was school?" She slid the man of meatloaf into the oven while looking towards the living room. There was no answer which was odd. Embry was usually starving when he got home. He would come and chatter to her about his day while snacking on something despite the fact that dinner was already cooking. Instead she found his damp coat on the couch next to his backpack, no Embry in sight. She picked up the coat and headed down the hallway to find her son sprawled across his bed, face buried in his pillow.

"Embry, everything ok?"

"Nts fne," came the mumbled reply. Tiffany sat on the edge of the bed and brushed the long hair back from his face.

"What happened?" Embry sighed and rolled onto his back.

"It's stupid," he muttered as he picked at his shirt. "Jake's dad cancelled the camping trip."

Ah, now she understood. Embry had been looking forward to a weekend of just the guys; the three best friends Embry, Jake and Quil with only Billy for supervision. It was a ten year olds dream and would have been Embry's first time camping. The heavy downpour outside had clearly been the culprit for the cancellation.

"I'm sure Jake's dad will take you guys on a different weekend," Tiffany assured him.

"I know…. it's just" Embry sighed.

"I know." Tiffany smiled and patted his leg. He tried so hard to keep a brave face all the time. Maybe the weather didn't have to ruin the whole weekend.

"Embry can you come help me please?" Tiffany called from the living room several minutes later.

"Mom, what are you doing?" His eyes widened at the mess that she had made of the living room. The couch was pushed away from the wall with the cushions pulled off into a towering pile. Two dining room chairs were behind the couch. Blankets and sheets were piled at her feet.

"Well you guys can't go camping this weekend like you planned, but who says you can't still camp? Here take an end." She shook out the sheet she was holding towards him. Embry grabbed the sheet and just looked at it.

"Are you serious?" he asked quietly. Tiffany had never let all three of them sleepover at their place before.

"Yes, now help me set up the sheet fort and then you can go call Quil and Jake."

"Thank you mom!" Tiffany gasps when Embry flings his arms around her waist in a fierce hug. She smiled and returns the hug, pressing her face into the top of his head.


	3. Blood - Prompt 12

The Twilight Twenty-Five

Prompt: #12  
Pen Name: TisTaiOre  
Pairing/Character(s): Leah, Sam  
Rating: M  
Word Count: 495

Photo prompts can be found here:  
/round-eight/prompts

There was only so much crying and sympathy that Leah could handle. The small waiting room in the hospital was full of it, overflowing even. It brought back too many vivid memories of her dad. She had to get some air, now.

The focus of the pack for the last couple of months had been protecting Bella from the redheaded bloodsucker. They had almost gotten her on so many occasions. She always managed to stay just barely beyond their reach.

That night was no different. Sam had been on Bella babysitting duty when he caught the scent. He raised the alarm and took off after her. The bitch headed for the water yet again. Jake and Embry cut her off but she disappeared. They searched for her for hours but found nothing.

She had doubled back and was waiting for Sam when he went to check on Bella. The whole pack had been phased in to watch the bitch drive a knife through Bella chest. The cry from Jake had nearly brought Leah to her knees. She shook the memory off and headed for the stairs. She really needed to get outside, breathe in air that wasn't tainted with the smell of blood and antiseptic.

Leah sucked in the cool air as she cleared the building. There were benches set back by a stand of trees behind the hospital that she headed towards. She just needed a few minutes before she went back in. As she rounded the corner she nearly tripped over Sam. He sat with his back against the wall staring at his hands, hands still covered in Bella's blood. He had been the one to run her to the hospital. The others hadn't been close enough to do anything. By the time they had all phased and made the short trip to Forks it was all over.

"Sam what are you doing out here? Everyone's been looking for you." Leah flinched at the lost look on his face. Even after everything between them her first instinct was to comfort him. She crossed her arms and put a couple feet of space between them.

"I couldn't stop her. I tried but… And there was so much blood. I couldn't stop it. I ran as fast as I could. The nurses said it was her heart. I heard it, it wasn't working right. She is part of this pack and I couldn't do _anything._" Sam grasped his hair and pulled his knees up to his chest, curling into a ball.

"Sam," Leah sighed. She couldn't turn away from this pain. Of course he would try to take the blame for losing Bella, it was so Sam. She kneeled next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder noticing that he was still nude from the phase, nude and covered in drying blood.

"There was nothing else you could do."

"Tell that to Jake and Charlie." He raised tortured eyes to meet hers.


End file.
